By
Heidi Vogt in Juba, South Sudan and Joe Lauria in New York/Reuters
 |
|
Displaced
families are camped near Juba international airport on Tuesday. REUTERS
|
Mass grave found,
evidence of ethnically targeted killings
The United Nations voted Tuesday to
send thousands more peacekeepers to South Sudan as the organization said it had
found evidence of mass killings along ethnic lines in the country.
The U.N. Security Council voted to
nearly double its international troops in the country to about 13,800,
including 12,500 military and 1,323 international police.
Before the council voted, Navi Pillay,
the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the organization had found at
least one mass grave in South Sudan as well as evidence of ethnically targeted
killings and arbitrary detentions.
On Tuesday, the U.S. military's Africa
Command moved a KC-130 transport plane and around 50 troops from Camp
Lemonnier, Djibouti, to Entebbe, Uganda, the Pentagon said.
The move will allow the Pentagon to send
more military personnel to South Sudan more quickly if they are needed to help
protect U.S. personnel and facilities in the country, defense officials said.
Fighting appeared to be spreading and
showed no sign of letting up. The government claimed its first victory since
clashes began in the capital Juba on Dec. 15. It said its forces had retaken
Bor, the capital of South Sudan's largest state, after a day of heavy fighting.
The world's youngest country has been
teetering on the edge of civil war since clashes erupted over a power struggle
between President Salva Kiir and his former vice president, Riek Machar, ahead
of a 2015 election. The violence quickly descended into battles between the two
largest ethnic groups—the Dinka and the Nuer. Mr. Kiir is a Dinka while Mr.
Machar is a Nuer.
In the face of the burgeoning violence,
U.S. officials Tuesday intensified pressure on both government officials and
opposition leaders in South Sudan to cease hostilities and begin negotiations
in the presence of international mediators.
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke Tuesday
with leaders across Africa as well as to the president of South Sudan and the
country's chief opposition leader, U.S. officials said. He also spoke with Mr.
Kiir and Mr. Machar, to urge political talks.
"The United States urges all
parties in the crisis in South Sudan to implement an immediate cessation of
hostilities," State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said. "This
will offer critical humanitarian access to populations in dire need and open a
space for a mediated political dialogue between the opposing sides."
The U.S. envoy to South Sudan, Donald
Booth, already is in the country in an effort to start talks. Mr. Kerry said
the talks should be overseen by a group of African countries known as the
Inter-Governmental Authority for Government, which includes Kenya, Uganda,
Somalia, Ethiopia and others.
"We hope and pray today that the
leaders of South Sudan will acknowledge the international community's
commitment and understand that those who seek to take or hold power by violence
or division along ethnic lines will not have our support and may be in
violation of international law," Ms. Psaki said. "Violence today will
not pave the way for a more stable or prosperous tomorrow."
Senior U.S. officials played a direct
role in the creation of the country in 2011.
More than 500 people have died so far,
but the toll is almost certainly much higher. Military spokesman Col. Philip
Arguer said he had no estimate beyond 450 dead in Juba. However fierce fighting
has spread well beyond the capital, across large swaths of the country.
About 81,000 people have been
displaced, 45,000 of them sheltering at U.N. camps inside the country, the U.N.
humanitarian agency said.
Sudan's Tumultuous
History
Review events on the fragmented
political situation of South Sudan, which broke away from Sudan in 2011 and the
repeated clashes with its neighbor over oil production and exports.
"We are now facing one of the
largest emerging humanitarian crises," said Toby Lanzer, the U.N. deputy
representative to South Sudan. He said the violence was "quickly evolving
to affect, not tens of thousands of people, but I expect hundreds of thousands
of people."
Reacting to the Security Council vote
Tuesday, Iain Levine, deputy executive director of programs at Human Rights
Watch, said, "Council members should remind President Salva Kiir and
former Vice President Riek Machar that they will be held accountable for abuses
committed by the troops under their control. U.N. peacekeepers should continue
to provide protection for civilians at risk including through robust
patrols."
Mr. Pillay said the U.N. had found at
least one mass grave in the capital of Unity state, Bentiu, which has been seized
by mutinous Nuer forces.
"We have discovered a mass grave
in Bentiu, in Unity state, and there are reportedly at least two other mass
graves in Juba," he said.
It wasn't immediately clear how many
bodies were in the grave. A spokeswoman for Mr. Pillay, Ravina Shamdasani, said
there may be as many as 75, based on the number of soldiers from Mr. Kiir's
Dinka group reported missing in the area. At least 14 bodies were in one
gravesite and another 20 at a riverside nearby, the spokeswoman said.
Mr. Pillay also raised concerns about
the safety of people who have been arrested and are being held in unknown
locations, including several hundred civilians reportedly seized during
house-to-house searches and from various hotels in Juba.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon warned that the
strengthening of protection capabilities won't happen overnight.
"Even with additional
capabilities, we won't be able to protect every civilian in need in South
Sudan," he told reporters.
Mr. Ban said he had spoken to many
African leaders on Tuesday urging them to make their troops available for the
increased deployment, some from neighboring U.N. missions such as in Congo.
"We need at least five battalions
and police officers and attack helicopters and utility helicopters, transport
airplanes," Mr. Ban said.
Amid reports that the government had
given an ultimatum before moving into the town of Bentui with force, Mr. Ban
said, "There is no military solution. I am urging again that the leaders,
whatever their differences may be, should start dialogue immediately."
John Watt, Oxfam's deputy regional
director for East Africa, who is in South Sudan, said, "Troops brought in
should…ensure civilians are protected in and around U.N. bases throughout the
country, and in the capital Juba where over 30,000 people have fled to for
safety."
The conflict, meanwhile, was spreading
to new areas. On Tuesday, government troops and rebel forces battled in the
capital of oil-rich Upper Nile state in the northeast.
Bor, the capital of eastern Jonglei
state, witnessed heavy fighting in recent days and was seen as a stronghold for
the rebel troops. It was in Bor that American evacuation planes came under fire
last week and had to abort their mission, leaving four American service members
wounded.
"Bor is now under the control of
the SPLA (South Sudanese government forces)," Col. Arguer said. "The
final attack started at 1 o'clock and the fighting took us about five
hours."
Rebel troops fled to the east of the
city, he said.
About 17,000 people are sheltering at
the U.N. base in Bor, and the camp was being reinforced with additional
protective barriers and more peacekeepers, the U.N. said.
The victory at Bor could not be
independently verified and it wasn't clear whether retaking the town would be
enough to turn back the wave of ethnic killings that has swept the country.
The U.S. decided on Monday to send 150
more Marines and several aircraft to a base in the Horn of Africa in case they
are needed, reflecting growing concerns about threats to American civilians who
remain in the country.
Diplomats have urged talks for days
with no discernible progress. Mr. Kiir has said he is ready for negotiations
with no preconditions, but has asked the same of his former deputy. But Mr.
Machar has said he would only enter talks once 11 of his detained compatriots
are released.
The country's military spokesman said
authorities were investigating allegations that Dinka soldiers allied with the
president were pursuing Nuer in Juba.
"Our discipline isn't
perfect," Col. Arguer said in a phone interview. "We have received
those disturbing reports that there have been some groups in uniform that have
attacked some Nuer families."
He said they arrested some soldiers
because of the allegations, but didn't know how many.
Rebel forces attacked the town of
Malakal in Upper Nile state but government forces beat them back, Col. Arguer
said. He said he didn't have a death toll or further details about the fighting
in the remote eastern corner of the country.
"Malakal is still chaotic and
there are undisciplined elements that have been reported to be shooting in the
market," Col. Arguer said.
The U.N. confirmed sporadic fighting in
Upper Nile and sustained fighting in another five of South Sudan's 10
states—Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Jonglei, Unity and Warrap. The
areas where fighting is reported encompass the eastern half of the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment